I had never been inside the Crua Breck house, nor, I may say, did I much covet a visit there, for the inmates of the farm were not distinguished for their friendliness or hospitality, and, with the one exception of Thora, whom I always regarded with a sense of kindliness, and Tom, who was my class fellow, I had little acquaintance with the family. Had I been more warmly inclined towards them I would have gone up to the door at once and asked for Tom, instead of sitting on the dyke side with Rosson and waiting till he chose to come out to us. As we sat there, however, Thora Kinlay came past us, driving before her a hen and her brood of chickens, which she had found straying along the cliffs, and of her we asked for Tom. She at once offered to run to the house and bring him, but ultimately Robbie Rosson went instead, with my terrier at his heels. "How is it you are not at the fishing, Halcro?" inquired Thora when we were alone. "I saw the schoolmaster away down at the Bush just now as I came past. He seemed to be catching very little, though." "Ah!" I said, "I doubt it's too clear a day for the trout. We're off to Skaill Vie to see if we can catch a seal." "That will be fine fun," said Thora, with a touch of envy in her voice. "I wish I was going with you. Will you not take me?" "Indeed," I returned, not unwilling that she should join us in our sport, "I'd be real glad if you would come. But here's Tom, we'll ask him." Robbie and Tom approached across a plot of potatoes. Tom was eating a huge piece of oatcake, and slashing, with a long stick he carried, at the heads of the thistles that grew, all too plentifully, among the potatoes. Tom was a tall, large-boned lad, and his feet, which were encased in rivlins, or rough hide shoes, projected several inches below his trousers; his arms, too, seemed to have grown far beyond the length of his jacket sleeves. His untidy black hair and dark eyes contrasted strangely with the fair and delicate beauty of his sister Thora. A stranger might have taken Thora to be of pure Norse family, and her adventurous spirit would have justified the belief. But Tom took after his father, whose type was that of a race not uncommon in the north of Scotland, and called--for I know not what reason--"The dark men of Connemara." "Tom," I asked when he was beside us, "what do you say to Thora coming with us to the sealing?" "What! Certainly not," replied Tom, who was ever jealous of his sister and loved not to favour her in any way. "What would a lassie do at the sealing? Let her go back home and do her lessons, and try if she can win to the head of the class again."